FSG reveal next stage of Anfield plan with date set for 2025

Pop star Dua Lipa will play one night at Anfield as part of her Radical Optimism Tour

(Picture: Getty Images)

Liverpool gained a financial boost during the summer thanks to Taylor Swift and Pink. And now the plans for what happens next year are already being revealed.

British-Albanian pop star Dua Lipa is the first live act to be confirmed for next summer at Anfield, the club confirming that the 29-year-old ‘Cold Heart’ singer would play two nights next summer at the home of the Reds as part of her Radical Optimism Tour.

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The summer of 2023 saw Liverpool forced to abandon any plans for live music concerts due to the £80m redevelopment of the Anfield Road End. But the summer of 2024 saw live music back with a bang thanks to three sell-out Swift gigs and two hugely successful Pink concerts followed the 2022 performances by the Rolling Stones, Elton John, and Eagles.

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For Liverpool, the money that can be brought in from hosting concerts during the summer is significant, and the concerts held over the course of 2024 have delivered more than £10m in revenue for the Reds.

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Liverpool are allowed to stage up to six non-football events at Anfield per season per an agreement with Liverpool City Council. Hosting concerts during the closed season are valuable to Liverpool, worth millions to the club when all is said and done. They aren’t easy to put a price on, however, as the nature of concerts means the actual value of what the club can receive can even change on the night, as ticket and commercial sales are all considered and the numbers run by promoters and Liverpool staff during the event itself. At the end a figure is reached and then divided up as agreed.

Hosting top-level artists like Dua Lipa, who has a special connection with the Reds due to her ‘One Kiss’ hit being adopted after she performed it at the Champions League final in 2019, can also be a huge pull for commercial partners, some of who may pay extra to be able to access hospitality for the event to entertain their own clients in executive suites.

The money will tot up through various elements, with the promoters, AEG in the case of Swift, paying Liverpool a hire fee for the use of the stadium, with the club to get a cut of merchandise and food sales, totted up throughout the evenings . In the case of Tottenham Hotspur last year, the club were able to also take a cut of the sale of premium seats when Beyonce performed a sell-out five-night stint that bagged her some £42m.

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For Liverpool, Anfield remains an asset, one that offers something unique to the biggest artists in the world in an iconic city that is known the world over for its contribution to music. It is something that the club can leverage, and in an era when raising revenues through new levers is vital in order to combat financial controls and re-invest to a greater extent on the pitch.

Speaking exclusively to the ECHO last month, Liverpool chief commercial officer Ben Latty explained just why the ability to host live events was important, and why the city and venue had a unique pull.

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“Now that we’ve put on such amazing shows for those five nights for Taylor Swift and Pink, and previous years, I think we are very much on the tip of the tongue of promoters when they’re looking for venues to take their artists to the UK,” said Latty.

“I think Anfield’s right up there now and I think that’s kudos to the city. We put on a good show when we bring major events. There was great work from the team as well behind the scenes at Liverpool to make sure that it’s a seamless visit from these huge, huge acts.

“I think for us it’s something we will continue to look at.”